Machine for making an imprint on cylindrical articles



Jan. 13, 1953 C. F. ROBBINS ETAL MACHINE FOR MAKING AN IMPRINT 0N CYLINDRICAL ARTICLES Filed Dec; 7, 1949 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 13, 1953 c.. F. ROBBINS ET AL 2,625,098v

MACHINE FOR MAKING AN, IMPRINT ON CYLINDRICAL ARTICLES Filed Dec. 7, 1949 3 Sheets-Shet 2 INV NTORS. M M

MACHINE FOR MAKING AN IMPRINT ON CYLINDRICAL ARTICLES .Ian. 13, 1953 q. F. ROBBINS ETAL Filed Dec.

. 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 C1 IOIgi EN TOR. By 68W Cilia 1: 01 MM MM Patented Jan. 13, 1953 MACHINE FQR MAKING AN IMPRINT ON CYLINDRICAL ARTIGLES Charles F. Robbins and Bertrand G. Harvey, Keene, N. H., a'sSi-gnors to Mai-rem Machine (ionipaiiy, Keene, N. H., a: corporation or New Hampshire Application December 7, 1949, Serial No. 131,558

2 Claims. 1

This invention relates to a machine for making an imprint on a cylindrical article, and is in the nature of an improvement on the machines shown in United States Patents No. 2,459,538, January 18, I949 and No. 2,461,233, February 8, 1949.

The machine shown in said patents comprises a printing cylinder having on its periphery a printing plate carrying the type characters by which the printed impression is made on the cylindrical article, and an article holder or mask situated above the printing cylinder and having a vertical opening extending therethrough of a size to freely receive the cylindrical article to be printed, the arrangement being such that when the cylindrical article is deposited in the opening of the holder, said cylindrical article will rest on' theprinting cylinder with its axis parallel to that of the cylinder and at the same time will be free for rotation within the opening of the article holder so that when the printing cylinder is rotated, the article within the holder will be r-* tatedj about its axis by its frictional engagement with the periphery of the'printing cylinder, and during such rotation the type characters of the printing plate will make the desired printed irripressi'on on the article. Patent No. 2,461,233 the printing cylinder is provided with an article-receiving cavity 1o= catedl at" the trailing end of the printing plate so that during the rotation of the printing cylinder, said cavity will come into-register with thearticl'e m the holder after the printed impression has been made thereon, and the printed article'wi-ll thereupon drop out of the opening in the'arti'cle holder into said cavity and will be removed from beneath the holder and dischargedfromthe printing cylinder by further rotation of the latter.

In the-devices shown insaid patents it isnecessaryto" employan article holder with an opening which is of the proper size to re'ceive'the article to be printed, which means that if the machine is set up for printing an article of one size and it is desired to print a lot of cylindrical articles of another size, it will be necessary to exchange the article: holder for another: one having the opening of the, proper size: for the" second lotof cylindrical articles; This-involves, therefore, the necessity of having onhand a surficientnumber'- of article holders; having openings of different sizes to accommodate thedifierent sizes-of articles to beprinted.

Moreover, experience has shownth'atsometimes an articlezbecomcs:jammed in droppihg'froni the article holder into" the article receiving" cavity,- anchif: the. articlezisimadeiof: glass; this fnay' result in' abreakage.

It is one of the objects of ourinvntion to provide an improved foriii of article holder which is readily adjustable for different sizes of articles so that by" merely Ir'iakin'g a Sifhple adjustment in the article holder, it can be iised for printing articles of a Wide variety of diameters or sizes.

A further object of the invention is to provide a form of article holder which obviates the danger of breakage of any cylindrical articles which are inside of glass or other fragile material when said article has received its iii'iprifit and is' heihg". discharged from the lhachiiie.

In the drawings whereih wehave illiist'rate'd one embodiment of our invention,

I "a side view of a machine nihodyingfl ou nven n and showing the article holder in its operative fio'sitio I Fig; 2 is a view similar t Fig. 1 but showing thearti'c'le holder raised position in which the printed article is released, said view showing the manner in which the printed article'is' discharged F1 3 is a rrontview of the machine looking towardthe left in Fig. 1

Fig. 4 is a fraginehtary enlarged View of the printing oylinderand article holder looking toward the right in Fig. I.

Fig; 5' is a fraginehtary view illostratihg the manner in Which'the article holder is adiu's't'ed for difierent sizes of 'cyli'ridricalart'iols.

Fig. 6' is emargea section on the line 6-6; Fig. 1'.

The machine herein shown comprises a suitablefr'ar'ne l in which is mounted-a shaft 2 carrying the printing" cylinder 3, the latter having; a

continuous Cylindrical surracetewhich is SChT'eda printing plate 4 carrying" the type characters by which the desired printe impression is made on a cylindrical article which is indicated at 5 Theprinting plate 4 may conveniently be'made of rubber and thus provided withrubber type characters.

The printing cylinder 3" is shown as provided with a pair of rings 35 between which the printing plated is located, said rings constituting the supporting portion of the printing cylinder on which the cylindrical article 5 rests.

Theshaft 2 may be rotated in any usual way as by means of a motor 6 which is connected to the shaft by"mea'ns-" ofisiiitable gearing l;

8 indicates an roll operatingin' an ink'reservoir 9 and by which the'type'char'acters are inked during" the rotation of the printing" cylinder 3'.

Qiir improved article holder comprisesa head member H) from Which depends two pairs of arms, thea'rms of each pair bein'g 'indicated at" II and I2. Each arm carries at its lower end a roller [3 and said arms H and I2 of each pair are so positioned relative to each other that the distance between the adjacent peripheral surfaces of the rolls l3 of each pair of arms is slightly less than the diameter of the cylindrical article 5 on which the imprint is to be made. The head I is yieldingly carried by a supporting member l4 which is mounted on the frame for vertical movement, said supporting member being shown as carried by an arm l5 extending laterally from a lever l6 which is pivotally mounted at H. The supporting member I4 is provided with an interior chamber and the head I0 is formed with an upwardly extending stem 13 which extends into the chamber M, the upper end of the stem being provided with an enlarged portion [9 which prevents the withdrawal of the stem from the supporting member [4. Situated within the interior chamber 20 of the supporting member i4 is a spring 2| which exerts a downward pressure on the enlarged portion IQ of the stem and normally maintains said enlarged portion in engagement with the bottom of the chamber 20 as shown in Fig. 1.

The lever I6 is actuated by suitable cam mechanism, hereinafter described, by which said lever, the arm 55 extending therefrom, the supporting member 14 carried by the arm I5, and the roll assembly, consisting of the head [0 and the rolls l3, are given an up and down movement.

When the article holder or roll assembly is in its lowered operative position shown in Fig. 1, the rolls 13 of each pair have a straddling relation relative to a cylindrical article 5 that is in position to be printed, and said article will thereby be yieldingly held against the supporting rolls or rings 36 of the printing cylinder as shown in Fig. 1. The frictional engagement thus provided between the printing cylinder 3 and the cylindrical article 5 resting thereon is such that the rotation of the printing cylinder will rotate the article 5 about its own axis as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1. When, during such rotation, the printing plate 4 passes beneath the cylindrical article 5, the desired printed impression will be made on said article.

The means controlling the lever 16 is such that after a printed impression has been made on any cylindrical article, the lever is raised thereby raising the article holder into the inoperative position shown in Fig. 2. When the article holder is thus raised, the printed cylindrical article 5 is released and is free to be discharged from the printing cylinder as shown in Fig. 2, this discharge being assisted by the fact that the printing cylinder is rotating counterclockwis in Fig. 1.

If desired a suitable receptacle 31 may be employed to receive the discharged printed article.

To further facilitate the discharge of the printed cylindrical article, we propose to so arrange the parts of the machine that the article holder will be offset somewhat on the discharge side of the vertical center line of the printing cylinder as best seen in Fig. 1 so that when the article holder is raised after an article has received its imprint, the discharge of the article will be assisted partly by gravity and partly by the rotative movement of the printing cylinder 3.

The means for raising and lowering the article holder herein shown is similar to that illustrated in the above-mentioned patents. The lever I6 is provided with an extension 22 which is connected by a link 23 tonne end of an arm 24 of an elbow lever 25 which is pivoted to the frame at 26, the other arm 21 of said elbow lever cooperating with a cam 28 on the driving shaft 2. Said cam has a high portion 29 which at the appropriate point in the rotation of the printing cylinder will engage the end 30 of the lever 25 thereby rocking the latter and operating through the link 23 to turn the lever i6 and raise the article holder from its operative position shown in Fig. 1 to its inoperative position shown in Fig. 2.

The cam 28 is so designed that when the end 3B of the elbow lever 25 is resting against the low portion of the cam, and the rolls 13 of the roll assembly or article holder are resting against a cylindrical article 5 that is in printing position, as shown in Fig. 1, the enlarged end I 9 of the stem I8 will be spaced from the bottom of the chamber 20 and rolls I3 of the roll assembly will therefore be yieldingly held against the article 5 by the spring 2|.

'The machine herein shown is provided with means for automatically feeding unprinted cy- 1indrical articles to the article holder, and for this purpose there is provided an inclined chute 31 to receive a plurality of cylindrical articles.

The construction is such that when the article holder is in its lowered position and the rolls [3 are in yielding engagement with an article that is in printing position, the bottom article in the chute will engage one of the rolls 13 as shown in Fig. 1, whereby the unprinted articles will be retained in position in the chute.

When the article holder is raised into its inoperative position for the discharge of a printed article, the bottom article in the chute will then roll into position on to the printing cylinder 4 as shown in Fig. 2. The cam 28 is so designed that the upward movement of the article holder is just sufficient to release the printed article and to allow the bottom unprinted article in the chute to gravitate into position on the printing cylinder, and the return movement of the article holder from its raised to its lowered position will occur just in time to catch the article which has rolled oif from the chute and retain said article in printing position. 1

To enable the article holder to function properly with cylindrical articles of different diameters, we propose to pivotally connect the leg 12 of each pair of legs to the head II] as shown at 32 so that the rolls l3 of each pair of legs can be adjusted relatively toward and from each other. Each pivoted leg l2 has a link 33 connected thereto which is provided with a slot 34 that receives a clamping bolt 35 carried by the leg H of the pair. By loosening the clamping bolts 35, the arms i2 can be adjusted so as to properly position the rolls 13 of each pair of legs to cooperate with a cylindrical article of any one of a wide variety of different diameters.

We claim:

l. A machine for making an imprint on cylindrical articles comprising a printing cylinder having a continuous cylindrical surface carrying type elements, means to rotate said printing cylinder, article holdin means above the printing cylinder for holding a cylindrical article to be printed in a position above and resting on the printing cylinder and with its axis parallel to that of the printing cylinder, said article h'olding means comprising a head member, two pairs of rolls mounted on the head member with the pairs of rolls spaced from each other lengthwise of said cylindrical article and with the rolls of each pair spaced from each other in a direction transversely of the axis of said cylindrical article a distance slightly less than the diameter of said cylindrical article, and means for moving said head member vertically between a raised inoperative position in which the rolls are located above the cylindrical article and a lowered operative position in which the rolls of each pair engage the cylindrical article in straddling relation thereto, and thereby hold it in printing position, said rolls constituting the sole means for thus holding the cylindrical article in printing position, whereby the article is released when the rolls are in their raised position.

2. A machine for making an imprint on cylindrical articles comprising a horizontally disposed printing cylinder having a continuous cylindrical surface carrying a printing member, means to rotate said printing cylinder, an article-holding means for holding a cylindrical article to be printed in a printing position above and resting on the printing cylinder and with its axis parallel to that of the cylinder, and also in a position slightly to one side of the vertical diametrical line of the cylinder, said article-holding means comprising a head member, two pairs of rolls mounted thereon and depending therefrom and With their axes parallel to that of the printing cylinder, the rolls of each pair being spaced apart a distance slightly less than the diameter of the cylindrical article, and the pairs of rolls being spaced apart in a direction lengthwise of said article, means moving said head member vertically between a lower operative position in which the rolls of each pair engage the cylindrical article in straddling relation thereto, and thereby hold it in printing position while permitting it to rotate freely by frictional contact with the printing cylinder, and a raised inoperative position in which the rolls are above and out of contact with the cylindrical article, said rolls when in their lowered position constituting the sole means for holding the cylindrical article in printing position, whereby when the rolls are raised the cylindrical article is released and because of its position at one side of the vertical diametrical line of the printing cylinder is free to roll oif therefrom, and spring means yieldingly holding said rolls in contact with said cylindrical article when they are in their lower operative position.

CHARLES F. ROBBINS.

BERTRAND G. HARVEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,167,004 Magna Jan. 4, 1916 1,657,382 Felten Jan. 24, 1928 2,079,300 Nunnikhoven May 4, 1937 2,125,837 Schneider et al Aug. 2, 1938 2,459,538 Robbins Jan. 18, 1939 2,409,368 Lipton Oct. 15, 1946 2,461,233 Putnam Feb. 8, 1949 2,540,554 Shurley Feb. 6, 1951 

